1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for rolling confectionary dough, bread dough, noodle dough, and the like to form a sheet of dough, and particularly to an apparatus for rolling plastic dough whereby the thickness of the dough to be flattened can be easily selected.
2. Description of Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,178,147 teaches a stretcher of dough for cakes, bread, and the like, comprising a roller mechanism with a plurality of rollers forming an endless roller path having a lower straight portion, and transport means including an intake conveyor, an outlet conveyor, and at least one transport roller between them and arranged below the straight portion and in series with each other. The dough fed on the belt of the intake conveyor is flattened mainly by the stretching caused by conveying speed differences between the intake conveyor and the transport roller, and between the transport roller and the outlet conveyor, and an endless roller mechanism is in rolling contact with the dough surface to assist the stretching.
Although this apparatus can effectively stretch the dough, it requires a roller mechanism which has a roller path comprising a straight portion, resulting in a complex mechanism which leads to high costs.
Furthermore, because the positional relationship between the roller mechanism and the transport means below the rollers is stationary, the thickness of the dough to be flattened cannot be easily changed.